There are many people spending millions of dollars on Amazon each year-and get a cut
of the revenue by incorporating Amazon’s affiliate program as part of your website
content.
Suppose you’re running a book blog and you’re delighted with your new kindle So
you write a post describing the feature and how you find it even useful than your old
kindle. In the course of your post you add a text link to the product page on
Amazon.com. You might mention that other users love it too, judging from the
overwhelmingly positive user review. and maybe mention something about the range of
Kindle Fire accessories that are available.
You can see from the paragraph above how easy it is to work links to the product page
naturally into your writing. Those are affiliate links and when a user clicks on of those
links and buys from Amazon the wonderful team and you will get a small commission
for referring a customer.
I think I can guess your next question.
How Much Can You Earn as an Affiliate ?
One of the myths that float around about the associate programs is that it only pays 4%
commission. That not quite right.
The commission structure for the general products start a 4% but the rate rises the more you
items to sell per mouth. After you’ve sold 7 items for example, your commission rate rises to 6% .
Take a look at the table below and you’ll see the advertising fee – which is what Amazon calls
commission – keeps rising up to a maximum of 8.5%.
What’s great is that time you move up to a higher level your new percentage is applied to
your sales from that month, not just the later ones. In addition, sales generated through
Amazon owed MyHabit.com ( discount brand shopping) and Amazon Supply (formerly
smallparts.com selling building, engineering and scientific supplies) have a fixed commission
Of 15%.
Just to make it a little more confusing, some product categories – like electronics, MP3
downloads. Instant Video and Game Downloads – have a fixed fee rate which rises up to a
maximum of 25%.
Even if a user buys a different product from one you linked to, you still get a commission. In
fact you’ll get paid for everything bought within a 24 hour period of arriving on Amazon via
your affiliate link. If they don’t buy an item within 24 hour period but add it to their cart’ you
get a percentage provided they check out the item before the shopping cart expires (usually
After 90 days).
Given that shoppers often buy multiple items in the same shopping session, this can build
up to quite an income.
How Do I Get Started
It’s free to join the Amazon Associates program. Each geographical storefront has a
separate program to there’s one for Amazon.com Amazon.ca as well as as stores in
United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, France, Italy, Spain and China. The rates I’ve
mentioned in this post relate to the U.S. stores but the rate for others regions are
similar.
Account approval normally takes 24-48 hours.
Which Products Should I Promote
Because Amazon sells just about everything you can imagine. You should be able to
find a good selection of related products whatever your niche.
Always stick to products closely related to your site niche
If your blog focuses on compact cameras don’t be tempted to work in promotions for SLR
cameras just because they cost more and your commission will be bigger.
Readers looking for information about compacts are only looking for helpful information
about which compact camera to buy. Concentrate on giving them that and visitors are
much more likely to click through and make a purchase.
Should I Promote High or Low Price Items ?
Low priced items fly into shopping carts because shoppers don’t think twice before buying
them. Troubles is, the commission is low For examples, a book is likely to be only make you an
advertising fee of around $0.50 – $1.50.
On the other hand, large price items have much larger commission but people are more
likely to hesitate before buying.
That means the best approach is usually to go for medium priced items around the $150 –
$300 mark. At this price point your commission are good and the items still sell quite
easily in most categories you can find plenty of items within this price range. There are
literally hundreds of consumer electronics item in the range. For example.
Banner, Widget or Text Links?
Inside Amazon Associates you’ll find a variety of ways to generate affiliate links. The
easiest way to get a link on your site is by using a banner ad. Unfortunately that’s about
the least effective way to generate sales.
Same goes for widgets. Nice and easy, but they don’t convert well. Not only will you get
less click throughs because they look like an ad, but they tend to be clicked by people
who are bored and not in buying mode.
By far the most successful way to refer a visitor to Amazon is buy using a text link within the
text or a post. Like I did in the second paragraph of this post.
How to Write to Generate Sales
Keep in mind you’re writing to help someone decide what to buy. Don’t try to sell them
Something.
Writing like that will make you seem like a pushy salesperson desperate for a sale.
Instead, think about the kind of things someone who is almost ready to buy wants to know.
These are the easiest visitor to convert because in many cases they are just looking for a
final piece of information to confirm that product X is right for them. If you are the one
supplying that information you stand a good chance of bagging a commission.
Among the most common things potential buyers hit the internet to research the price,
Features and comparison to other products. Make sure you cover these three areas
when you are write along with any other useful insight you might have.
Keep it balanced and write about both the pros and the cons of the item. Maybe there are
more features on X but Y is half the price? Are the extra features worth the extra cash?
Maybe the new version just isn’t as good as the old one? Say so. And say why.
By writing a balanced article you’ll come across to your readers as trustworthy, reliable
source. Nothing will prevent you from making affiliate commission more than being
relentlessly short about every item you write about.
Why Can’t I just copy and paste the Amazon description?
Because that’s not helping anyone and copying content will harm your search engine
ranking. There’s no harm in using the product description to help you write your piece but
the end results needs to be in your own words.
What Should I Link To?
The best conversion come when you link directly to the product page rather than a
search results page or a category homepage. It’s all about making it as smooth a
transition as possible between reading about the product on your site and buying it on
Amazon.
You’ll increase conversion if you link to that have a lot of positive review – it’s
one of the most effective forms of social proof there is.
Link to Special Offers
Inside the Associates admin panel you’ll find details of the latest deals. Everyone loves a
bargain, so if the offers are related to your site content you’ve got yourself a blog post.
Advanced Linking Strategies
Once you’ve generated your affiliate links, where are the best places to use them?
Use At Least Two Links Per Post
It’s not just your mother who reads right to the end of the blog post – vistors in buying
mode do too. Adding a link to the end of you review will tend to convert well for that
reason.
But make sure there’s a link at the start of the post too, when you first mention the
product. It’s easier to find if someone stops reading your post halfway through but is still
interested enough to click through to Amazon to find out.
If you have a very long review, try to include links frequently enough so that as one scrolls
off the screen another scrolls on. That way , user don’t need to look to hard to find the
link.
Use Image Links
People considering buying products are naturally drawn to image of the product so
experiment with linking the image to the Amazon product page.
Track your Links
You can create multiple affiliate tags for the same account which allows you to track which
types of links work best. You might use different tags to compare text and image links for
example. You’ll definitely want to use a different tag for each website you have.
For more in – depth tracking you could set up Goal Tracking in Google Analytics but the
Amazon system works fine for simple tracking.
Write Multiple Post for your best – Selling Products
If you find that a particular product is creating a lot of interest it’s probably worth creating
a number post about it Review rounds ups. You Tube videos and reviews of specific
features – and what you can do with them – all help to simulate buying mode.
Final Tip: Brace yourself for the Holidays
Most affiliate do double the business over the holidays and a lot more. The biggest
times for the year are Black Friday. Cyber Monday and the few days either side. It’s also
pretty manic until Dec 25th. Other holidays like Memorial Day Weekend will also show a
peak in income.
Keep an eye on Amazon affiliate blog because that’s where you’ll see current and
upcoming Holiday deals listed.
How To Add amazon Links to your Site
Make sure you’re signed in your Amazon Associates account. Then visit the page on
Amazon for the product you want to sell. At the top of the page you’ll see a link that says
(Link to this page). Clicking that will open a box.
Choose the text link option and edit the link text to suit your content. By default, the link
text is long product title which looks odd and to much like a sales pitch when used in a
blog post or review. You’ll get better results if you shorten the text to two or three word
product name.
The next step is to copy the HTML code from the box underneath and paste your it into your
content where you want the link.
The Easy Way
If you’re not confident with cutting and pasting HTML code, or you just want to add links
without going through the hassle of all the steps above, check out WordPress plugin
called Easy Azon. It let you search for and add products from right inside the WordPress Dashboard.
grabbing images and product into for you. It’s a major time saver.
You can also use it to automatically show links to the appropriate international Amazon
store so you can make money from international visitors and quickly create professional
looking product information grids (great for review sites).
